Daguerreotypes are Not for Your Grandparents Anymore!

Forward by Rose Hollo

When I was a little girl, I loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder collection of “Little House” books. Most young girls growing up in the 1980’s were required to read Little House on the Prairie, and moved on to other books of a more modern appeal. But I stuck with the entire series and just reveled in the alternative, simple world in which little mischievous Laura and responsible big-sister Mary had so many adventures.

When I heard that our next UU presentation was going to be about Daguerreotypes, I immediately thought of the Little House series, and a beautiful daguerreotype I had seen once of Laura Ingalls-Wilder’s handsome husband, Alonzo “Manly” Wilder.

Now, ladies, contain yourselves! This handsome guy is no longer on the market, but Daguerrotypes continue to make waves in some very hip and current ways. This Sunday, a very interesting and unique demonstration of Daguerrotype-making by Primal Photographic will take place during our regular service time. I hope you can join us and learn a bit about this fascinating art, and perhaps be inspired to create your own!

Darcy Stoltzfus: Art Director / Case Maker

Darcy builds all the leather cases by hand and refurbishes the antique frames, then finishes all the pieces with the clients unique image in mind. She acts as the art director, stylist, and photo assistant during shoots and spends any other free time taking care of scheduling and day to day business operations.

Chad Djubek: Photographer

When not photographing Chad spends his time meticulously polishing, buffing, and sensitizing the silver daguerreotype plates. He works all the darkroom magic of developing, processing, and fixing of all the Daguerreotype Plates and Traditional Film Negatives, Lithographs, and Chemical Paper Prints.

The Daguerreotype

In this digital age the daguerreotype brings a slower more lasting, artistic, and traditional approach to photography. The process was patented by Jaques Daguerre in 1839, and is considered the first commercially viable photographic process. The completed photograph is a mirror image of the subject captured on a silver coated copper plate, beautifully enclosed in a case built specifically to display the reflective image. Longevity is a huge asset to this art, daguerreotypes are proven to last well beyond 170 years.